National Credit Union Awards

Canada’s credit unions have always played a significant role in the well being of the communities they serve. CCUA recognizes and rewards these accomplishments through an annual awards program that acknowledges credit unions that exemplify the true nature of the co-operative spirit. The National Credit Union Awards highlight fresh and effective programs that emphasize local economic initiatives, innovative solutions that improve the effectiveness of the credit union, and the ambitions of tomorrow’s young leaders.

2018 Call for Nominations Bookletis NOW AVAILABLE. This booklet contains more information about the nomination process, as well as the submission guidelines and criteria for each award.

Hall of Fame Award

The Hall of Fame award honours and celebrates leaders' extraordinary achievements that enhance the national system. Nominee should be an individual who has shown excellence in leadership in Canada and/or internationally, and whose outstanding accomplishments demonstrate their commitment and passion to the credit union system.

2017 Hall of Fame Award Winners:

Dan Burns won for his tireless contribution and commitment to countless cooperative Boards and to improving the lives of others. View video

Terry Enns won for his unwavering commitment to the credit union system and its people, and his proven results and contributions to our industry. View video

Social Responsibility Award

The National Credit Union Social Responsibility Award recognizes the leadership, innovation and advancement that credit unions are demonstrating in their social and environmental performance. Over the years, credit unions have earned a reputation for their concern for community, often through philanthropy and community service. Today, credit unions are taking that a step further by challenging themselves to make community responsibility and sustainability a core part of their business. Through this Award, CCUA’s Credit Union Social Responsibility Committee, with the support of CCUA’s Board of Directors, are recognizing and celebrating the ways credit unions are leading in defining strategic approaches to social responsibility that will encourage and inspire the system as a whole

2017 Social Responsibility Winner:

Assiniboine Credit Union won for their Eco-Excellence Program which achieved positive environmental results, as well as growth for the credit union. View video.

Community Economic Development Award

The national Community Economic Development award recognizes and honours the outstanding contribution credit unions make that enable action by people locally to create economic opportunities and better social conditions, particularly for those who are most disadvantaged. Through this award, the Canadian Credit Union Association's Board of Directors focuses national attention on the leadership role credit unions play in inspiring others to shape promising futures within their communities.

2017 Community Economic Development Winner:

Vancity won for their Refugee Settlement Assistance Programdeveloped in close partnership with Immigrant Services Society of BC and other settlement service groups. Together, they created a scalable and sharable program comprising outreach activities, product developments, process enhancements, educational reports, and tools. View video.

Innovation Award

The national Innovation award is designed to recognize credit union/caisse popularies for breakthrough products, services and processes that are either new or have undergone significant improvements and can serve as a model for other credit unions. We look to recognize innovations that have demonstrated substantial benefit to either the credit union/caisse populaire or member base. The Innovation award should recognize the credit union/caisse populaire– not specific individuals. The award can be submitted by a single credit union/caisse populaire or a group of credit unions working together to bring a solution to the market.

2017 Innovation Winner:

Northern Credit Union won for being the first financial institution in Canada to offer small business lending and deposit accounts entirely online through their Small Business Rocks program. View video.

Young Leader Award

The national credit union Young Leaders award recognizes young leaders in Canada’s credit union system. The award helps identify the best and brightest young employees, motivate them, and publicize their accomplishments to inspire others. In creating this award, the Canadian Credit Union's Board of Directors helps national leaders demonstrate strong support for young leadership.

Does your organization have any rising stars? Do they have well-defined accomplishments? Have they tackled any unusually large responsibilities in your credit union/caisse populaire or provincial/regional Central? Each year, up to five winners may be chosen for the National Credit Union Young Leaders award, and only one of these winners will be selected as the scholarship recipient and receive tuition plus travel costs (economy class) to attend a leadership development program at a recognized university in Canada ($10,000 maximum).

2017 National Young Leader Winners:

David Kropp, First West Credit Union - recipient of the bonus $10,000 scholarship prize

Emma Lafreniere, Steinbach Credit Union

Gareth Edwards, First Calgary Financial, a division of Connect First Credit Union Ltd.

Sarah Rea, Meridian Credit Union

Sara Rusak, Assiniboine Credit Union

Learning Excellence Award

The new National Credit Union Learning Excellence award recognizes and honours a leader or initiative that demonstrates an outstanding contribution in the development of credit union employees. The Learning Excellence award is for credit unions who recognize that investment in people has a direct impact on the member experience and on the bottom line for the credit union. This award acknowledges the role that skilled employees play in the success of their credit union, and the credit union ensures that employees are as prepared as possible to serve the needs of their members. This award recognizes innovative approaches to Human Resource Management, Learning & Development and/or Talent Management resulting in significant business improvement and recognize credit union achievements. Ongoing development of credit union employees is critical at a time when multiple factors are reshaping our industry and our workforce.

2017 Learning Excellence Winner:

Vancity won the first-ever Learning Leader award for the strategic development, instructional design, delivery, and evaluation of training for over 2,000 employees for the recent renewal of their core banking system. View video.

Best of Marketing Award

The Best of Marketing Award will be awarded to the Achievement in Marketing Excellence (AIME) entry with the overall highest score. The AIME Awards celebrates the year’s best marketing and communications campaigns created by credit unions, cooperatives and suppliers to the industry. The awards were created to raise awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the industry. Looking to enter the AIMEs? Click here.

2017 Best of Marketing Winner:

Synergy Credit Union won the first-ever Best of Marketing award for their Earn it. Invest it. Grow it. campaign which received the highest average score of all entries received for the 2017 Achievement in Marketing Excellence Awards. View video.